Tuesday morning rail news: Metra board to vote on proposal to lower fares on two lines Fares on the Metra Electric and Rock Island District lines would drop to $2.50 per ride, the same as those for Chicago Transit Authority L service, under a proposal by Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle. The Fair Transit […]
Zone & Region: Midwest
Digest: Online concert will raise funds for restoration of NC&StL No. 576
Monday rail preservation and museum news: Marty Stuart, Old Crow Medicine Show to hold online concert for No. 576 restoration project Grammy-winning Nashville musicians will hold an online concert Nov. 8 to raise funds for the ongoing restoration project of Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis 4-8-4 locomotive No. 576, which is in $10,000 of its […]
Digest: Kentucky Steam facility to anchor 40-acre arts and entertainment development
Thursday morning rail news: Kentucky Steam facility to be centerpiece of development effort A former CSX Transportation rail yard in Estill County, Ky., owned by Kentucky Steam Heritage Corp. will be turned into a multipurpose development featuring food, arts, music, and a heritage rail facility. With the help of a $120,000 contribution by the Commonwealth […]
Four Republican congressmen question Amtrak role in Biden campaign train (updated)
Four Republican Congressmen have sent a letter to Amtrak CEO Bill Flynn questioning whether the September campaign train of Democratic Presidential candidate Joe Biden “redirected Amtrak’s scarce resources” and requesting — by the day before the Nov. 3 presidential election — details on what the train cost Amtrak to operate and what the Biden campaign […]
Story City branch
Minneapolis & St. Louis 2-6-0 Mogul 310 has only one gondola left to deliver in Story City, Iowa, before returning home in July 1946. The railroad had 877 route miles in the state in 1931, the fifth most for a railroad at the time. Photo by William F. Armstrong […]
CP sought to control its own destiny with Detroit tunnel purchase
CALGARY, Alberta — Canadian Pacific aims to control its own destiny by purchasing the Detroit River Rail Tunnel, a key link in its route connecting Chicago with Toronto, Montreal, and Eastern Canada. The $312 million deal, announced last week and subject to regulatory approval, will for the first time give CP full ownership of the […]
Photo of the Day
B&O steam Baltimore & Ohio S-1 class 2-10-2 No. 6174 backs up the hump at Willard, Ohio, with reefers. The railroad had 125 such locomotives in the class, built by Baldwin and Lima between 1923 and 1926. Philip R. Hastings photo […]
Dead line
Various BNSF Railway yard switchers sit in storage at Galesburg, Ill., in October 2010, waiting for their next assignment. Photo by William B. Cecil […]
Erie revival
Norfolk Southern SD70ACe No. 1068, the Erie-painted heritage unit, leads train No. 301 from Decatur, Ill., to St. Louis, Mo. on Feb. 12, 2014. The train is seen at Stonington, Ill., on the former Wabash main line. Photo by Bruce Bird […]
Union Pacific COO Vena to become senior advisor; Gehringer to lead operations
OMAHA, Neb. — Union Pacific Chief Operating Officer Jim Vena will move to a role as senior advisor as of Jan. 1, 2021, with Eric Gehringer succeeding Vena as executive vice president-operations. Vena, 62, joined Union Pacific in January 2019, overseeing all aspects of operations including the railroad’s transition to its version of precision scheduled […]
Photo of the Day
President Pacific at speed Baltimore & Ohio P-7 4-6-2 5310, named President Taylor when built in 1927, pinch-hits for the usual streamlined P-7 on the northbound Cincinnatian at Carlisle, Ohio, in September 1954. Philip R. Hastings photo […]
Photo of the Day
4-8-2 on the Creole’s connection Illinois Central 4-8-2 No. 2438 pulls out of Carbondale, Ill., with train 208, the St. Louis connection for the Creole, in September 1954. Philip R. Hastings photo […]